He put this 4½ year old little boy - Derek
Greene - into the chain locker for two days and two nights. It's a closed
metal container, it's wet, it's full of water and seaweed, it smells
bad. But Derek was sitting up, on the chain, in this place, on his own,
in the dark, for two days and two nights... people heard him crying.
That is sheer, total brutality. That is child abuse.

Founder of Scientology - L. Ron Hubbard - ordered lockup of deaf-mute girl
From the book "Messiah
or Madman" by Bent Corydon

Hubbard had ordered a little girl who was a deafmute
down into the chain locker sometime in 1968. Hubbard was going to cure
her deaf-ness by shoving her down there! This came to my attention after
she'd been there for about a week because the Master at Arms at the
time, a beautiful girl, came to me and said, "John, I've got to
have you come and see what's going on."

McMaster remembers once being asked by the Master
at Arms to come and help her, He pulled up the wedge from the chain-locker,
a dank and unhealthy part of the ship into which offenders were flung
without food as a punishment. Out crawled a little girl who turned out
to be a deaf-mute who had been unable to write her name and had incurred
the Commodore's wrath.

I also witnessed a fourteen year old boy being locked
up in the chain locker of the ship, where he was made to spend the night.
The chain locker is a small dark space where the chain to the anchor
to the ship is stored when the ship is not at anchor. The boy was being
put in the chain locker by three teen-age L. Ron Hubbard messengers.
I witnessed this happening several times to people, even though I never
experienced it myself.

The length of time for children would vary, but
no one was there less than a day. The average was a week or two. Three
weeks was about the maximum. Age didn't matter. The youngest kids were
5, 6 or 7. Old, young, men, women, big, little; it wouldn't matter because
to Scientologists the being is ageless so you don't think in terms of
how young or old someone is.

The four-year-old boy could no longer cry. He had
been nearly 48 hours in the chain locker of the flagship _Apollo_ and
his entire body was aching from his efforts to chip off rust. His knees
and hands were raw with cuts and bruises. His voice was raspy from crying,
and he was desperately afraid.

Keep in mind that the chain locker was a dangerous
and scary place to be put in. One adult nearly was killed there. Was
it no pleasure for adults, the experience for little children must have been
a very traumatic one.

The chain locker was dangerous. Located at the very
bow of the ship under the water-line. It was the place where the section
of the chain not in the water was stored. When the entire chain was
brought up it filled most of this comparatively small, wet, dark, and
some- times rat-infested locker. The only thing that was holding the
chain in the locker was what is called a devil's claw, which was located
well above the locker on the deck of the ship. If someone were to kick
the claw, the entire chain would be pulled at high speed out of the
locker by the weight of the anchor, and anyone down in the locker could
very easily get caught in the outgoing chain and be yanked to his death.

Just looking at it now, those children were so under-nourished,
just not whole, complete children, because L. Ron Hubbard figures barley
water is better than milk. . . I've seen those children, 15 to 20 of
them in a filthy room, filthy carpet, food everywhere, and playing.
If one of them got out of line, they'd just lock them in a room and
let them scream itself to death, or scream itself to sleep. . . They
make them do what's called rocks and shows, where if they do something
that they weren't told to do, they have to do sit-ups, push-ups from
the cradle they are punished. From the cradle the children are punished.

The boy was locked in a small room with no TV, no entertainment and no company, for almost the entire time. He was fed
and an adult came to check on him a few times during the day. . . an
ethics officer, who stood by while the child talked to his mother. The
message was clear, "don't you dare complain."

On a number of occasions, I saw people placed in
the 'chain lockers' of the boat on direct orders of Hubbard. These lockers
were small, smelly holes, covered by grates where the chain for the
anchor was stored. I saw one boy held in there for 30 nights, crying
and begging to be released. He was only allowed out to clean the bilges
where the sewer and refuse of the ship collected. I believe his 'crimes'
were taking or using a musical instrument, I believe a flute, of someone
else without permission. I also saw a young boy and a young girl thrown
in the chain lockers at separate times because of romantic involvements
they had with other people.

I was twelve years old and witnessed children younger
than myself being thrown into the chain locker (a room for storing the
anchor while at sea) for days on end until they persuaded the ethics
officer that they were not enemies. Physical abuse of children was rife.

According to Scientology "Any law which applies to the behavior of men and women applies to children" and "A
child is a man or a woman who has not attained full growth." On
the basis of these direct quotes of the founder of Scientology and Dianetics,
L. Ron Hubbard, it is no surprise that the harsh forced labour and self-confessions
on the RPF program with its social isolation and a maximum of 6 hours
of sleep per night, is also applied to children.

The answer lies with their
founder L. Ron Hubbard, who made his word into law for scientologists. Scientology
can not change therefor, not by themselves, it would be against all that is
sacred for them to abandon the twisted ideas of child abuse which emanated
from Hubbard. If we want to see a change in the organization's attitude toward
children then it can only come from outward pressure. Get active, write your
US representative, politicians,
media and inform your friends. Spread the word!

What does the Declaration has to say about these
inhuman Scientology practices?

Article 5.

No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment.

Article 9.

No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

(2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.

Article 30.

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying
for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or
to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms
set forth herein.

Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III)
of 10 December 1948.